August 1999
The Mayor of Edisonville, a mid-western community of 50,000, was re-elected on a campaign pledge to make the city more responsive to its citizens. During the campaign, one irate citizen described how difficult it was for her to obtain some city budget data. "I just found the city bureaucracy to be a labyrinth, a maze, to work through." A member of council agreed—"a lot of people don't know who to call. I think it just shows we're not as user-friendly as we might be."
What to do? Why not appoint an ombudsman—a person who can trouble shoot citizen problems and perhaps get things done faster and more effectively. This idea, thought the mayor, is terrific. "Let's do it!" There's money in the current year's budget to cover the position; all that's needed is to write the job description.
The job description was written and the position posted in the city's personnel job directory. Seven finalists were interviewed; all were well qualified. Among the finalists was the Mayor's Chief-of-Staff’s daughter—June. Her work experience included nearly three years as a constituent services representative for Governor Hur. The Mayor appointed the Chief's daughter. Was this an act of cronyism? Nepotism? June does not report directly to her dad, the Chief-of-Staff, but reports to the Director of the city's Citizen Information Center. The Mayor did have to sign a waiver of Municipal Code Section 6.78.432 which bars the city from employing a supervisor's immediate family members in the supervisor's department.
Cronyism? Nepotism? Neither? You decide.
—based on a true story although all names are fictitious